Boston University to cut 450 jobs, save $25M

Published 12:00 am, Tuesday, September 3, 2002

Chancellor John Silber announced the cuts Friday during a two-hour "state of the school" address to deans and department heads. He also ruled out merit pay raises for faculty in 2003, but he said the university would still be competitive in the salaries it offers to recruit new staff.

On Sunday, university spokesman Kevin Carleton said the cuts, which will affect about 6 percent of the school's employees, will be made largely through attrition over two years and are projected to save $25 million in 2003.

Carleton told The Boston Globe the anticipated cuts are "a continuation of a process started last winter" when about $20 million was cut from budgets, and discretionary hiring and purchasing freezes were announced. But he noted the school has added about 1,200 jobs in the last decade while enrollment has remained steady at about 29,000 students.

The school saw its endowment plummet to $674 million in fiscal 2001 from $930 million in fiscal 2000, largely due to stock market losses. Department were told to make cuts midway through last semester. The school also took in $12 million less than expected from its corporate education programs.

The school's budget is about $1.4 billion for the current year. Tuition, including room and board, will be about $35,000 this year.

Brent Baker, dean of the School of Communications, said he viewed the meeting as a kind of pep talk between Silber and the administrators. "I think the headline for the faculty is the possibility of no pay raises," Baker said.